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“Merrill Minot will ride Patch. Meg Durham has Comanche, Betsy Cavanaugh will take Topside, Adam Levine is on Delilah. Simon Atherton, you will ride Bluegrass; Joe Novick will ride Rusty; and Lorraine Olsen, you’re on Diablo. Everybody got it?”
    Everybody did. It was time to tack up.
    “You’ll do fine on Barq, Lisa,” Carole told her friend as they walked toward their horses’ stalls. “He’s a good, steady jumper.”
    “I know,” Lisa said. “I really don’t mind not riding Prancerfor the clinic—it wouldn’t be fair to ask that much of her when it’s all still so new to her.”
    Carole nodded and smiled. She should have known that Lisa’s sensible nature would make her see the best side of the situation. They parted in front of Starlight’s stall.
    Fifteen minutes later the students were mounted in the outdoor ring. Max had set up some cavalletti—long, thin poles that could be set on the ground or at various low heights, which were often used in training horses to jump. After the students practiced proper jumping position on the flat for a while, Max set them to work over the cavalletti.
    Lisa finished one of her turns. She glanced over at Merrill, who was about to start her round. Merrill’s face was glowing, and while she was obviously concentrating hard on what she was doing, she seemed to be enjoying herself, too. Lisa was glad of that. Even though Merrill was the least experienced rider in the class except for Simon, she was holding her own with the other students.
    Finally Max called for a lunch break. The students trooped inside to the locker room for sandwiches and sodas. The Saddle Club and Merrill sat down together in a corner of the room and started talking about the morning’s work.
    “You were right about Max,” Merrill said, taking a big bite of her ham sandwich. “He’s a great teacher.”
    “That’s true,” Carole said. “But you’re a pretty good student, too, especially since you’ve hardly jumped before.”
    Merrill shrugged and looked down at her hands. “Well, I’m trying, but I know I’m doing a lot of things wrong. I alwaysforget to keep my arms loose, and during that last round my legs were wobbling all over the place.”
    “Everybody makes those mistakes when they’re first learning,” Stevie said. “You heard how Max kept yelling about my hand position. And I’ve been jumping for years.”
    “There’s so much to remember,” Merrill said.
    Lisa nodded. “It’s true. But when you’ve learned everything really well and had enough practice, and when you’re confident, it all comes together and you get that magical flying feeling we were talking about.”
    Merrill smiled. “I can’t wait,” she said.
    A FTER LUNCH THE group returned to the outdoor ring. Max and Red had set up a few low jumps.
    Once the horses were warmed up again, Max had the riders line up while he told them a little bit about the course he had laid out. “Now we’re going to move on to something a little more challenging,” he said. “Of course you all know that the approach to the jump is more important than anything that comes after. In this case, you should take your horse into a steady trot for the approach to the first fence. After landing, you should need about ten cantering strides before the second fence, then six strides to the third. Any questions?”
    Polly Giacomin raised her hand. “Won’t we have to make some adjustments according to the length of our horses’ strides?”
    “You might,” Max said. “That’s when it’s important to rememberthat you can control the length of your mount’s stride. Extension and collection, remember?”
    “I hope I’m ready for this,” Merrill whispered to Carole. “There’s so much to know.”
    “You’ll do fine,” Carole whispered back. “It is hard when everything is so new, but just remember: Patch is a pro, even if you aren’t.”
    Merrill smiled gratefully. “I’m glad of that,” she said, giving the pinto